Trip out West and Army Buddy Reunion

 We took a trip out West starting in St. Lewis, then out to Pomona Kansas to see my closest Army buddies.  Made a stop at a old missle silo that is being converted, then on to Moab Utah for Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.  Then we traveled up through Salt Lake City on to Yellowstone National Park.  Finally we traveled to Mount Rushmore then headed home.

Oshkosh/AirVenture July 19-24th

 Annual trip to Oshkosh/AirVenture

Great week at AirVenture.  Started out with a bit of excitement but it all ended as well as it could have.

Disaster!

Around Friday 9/27/24 hurricane Helene decided to pay East TN and Western NC a visit.  This resulted in the worst flood disaster in recorded history for the region.

3 major rivers flow through my county and converge into the Douglas Lake.  All three exceeded there record high levels by a large margin.

Downtown Newport was under 2-6 feet of flood water. 

All along the rivers homes were destroyed.  Bridges and roads were washed away.  People were and still are trapped.  Public water was wiped out, significant power outages occurred.  Two local dams were overrun and water spilled over the top of them at a rate up to three times the typical flow at Niagara Falls.  Their failure was imminent but God intervened and they held.  The East bound side of I-40 at the TN/NC line fell into the river below.  Entire communities like Hartford TN and Chimney Rock NC were completely wiped out.

At this point 2 people from my county are confirmed dead.  Neighboring counties and over in NC the death toll continues to rise and the numbers missing are huge.

Since my work was unaffected and we have the ability to produce about 2 million gallons of potable water a day, I decided to grab a few totes and start delivering water to our town and county.  I spent the next 4 days doing just that.

Started with one tote.

Quickly decided I need to expand the operation to two totes.

Then enlisted the help of a friend and we had 5 totes up and running.  I have no idea how many gallons of water we delivered to jugs and buckets but it was ALOT!

Then thru collaboration with one of our chemical suppliers, we really expanded to a 21,000 gallon tank.  The Chestnut Hill volunteer fire department helped us keep the tanks full at this station, the local hospital, and several shower sites that were set up around the county.

We even got a visit from Dolly herself to inform the community that she was personally donating 1 million dollars and her Dollywood company would also be donating another million.  Morgan Wallen also donated $500K.  My work, Bush Brothers donated food products and allowed many of us employees time to volunteer in this time of need.

I have been blown away by the love and compassion and grit that my fellow mountain folk have demonstrated over the past week.  Donations, volunteers and money are pouring into the region from hard working Americans that want to help!

We have a long road ahead of us here in East TN and Western NC.  Hard times lay ahead and the cleanup will take a long time but we will recover.  Here in our county the water has been restored and it won't be long till it is considered safe to drink.  

Vacation Time!

 The family is going on a cruise from Boston Ma to Halifax Canada then to Sydney Canada then on to Price Edward Island and back down to Portland Maine then back to Boston.  

Ironically we are traveling on the exact same ship we were on for 16 days last year for our Hawaiian cruise.

See you in a couple weeks!

Break time - Army Reunion

 This weekend we are flying to San Antonio for my reunion with my Army buddies that I served with during Operation Desert Shield/Storm.   I have not seen some of these brothers for more than 32 years!

Remember freedom is not free!  It is because of the sacrifices made by folks like these that allow us to be able to do many of the things we do and take for granted!

This is just one of the 8 troops we had represented.  This was my troop "T" for Tomahawk troop.  We were the maintenance troop for the squadron.  My MOS was 67T which basically means I was a BlackHawk crew chief/door gunner/mechanic.  

All of the wives that attended.  They are very special to be able to put up with us!

Due to the venue we did not get a group picture this year.  Here is last year's picture.  We had somewhere around 70 troopers this year which was a big increase over the past years.  

Several of our squadron's officers went on to have great success in their careers.  We have a two star as well as a one star general and several full bird colonels in our group.

We also had the honor of serving with Command Sergeant Major Patterson whom is a Vietnam era Medal of Honor recipient. Citation Here

Wings part 29

Today I prepped and primed the top wing skins for the right wing.

Taking advantage of the solar energy to dry the skins.  Left one only has tack coat on it and is drying.  Right one is finished.

Rivets aft of the spar.

All done with the nose ribs riveted.  Also the wing walk doubler.

That was a ton of work to get done in one work session!  My fingers are sore from placing and pulling over a 1000 rivets.

There will be no updates till at least next Wednesday as we are going glamping with the 5th wheel for Memorial day.

See you next week!

Wing rib prep - 10

After getting over the shock of Van’s filing bankruptcy and dealing with winter depression.   I am now back to working on these wing ribs!

More deburring, edge prep and soon to be scrubbing and priming.

This is the hardest part of building!

Fuselage center section #75 - Seat back assembly.

 Today we got some much needed but concerning communication from Van's.

https://www.vansaircraft.com/2023/10/business-announcement-from-vans-founder-dick-vangrunsven/

On this day of so much gloom and doom, I did the only thing that I could do in this situation and went out and finished my seat backs!

I’ve got a finished emp/tailcone, soon to be finished fuse, a wing kit begging to be assembled and a finish kit on order. I’m all in and trust that Vans will be around long after I am gone.

Got started by riveting the seat back angle adjust ribs together.

One of the few places that Van's ask the builder to double flush rivet.  These turned out well since I could squeeze them.

Next I riveted the hinges to the seat backs.

And then riveted the angles to the seat backs.

Then I bolted on the seatback adjustment pins.  

Fabricated the seat back angle adjust rib hinge pins.  Cut to length, treat the ends per the directions, bend a 90 on the end.

Pins installed.

Installed the sliding pin assembly.  Had to clean up the boss that the pin slides in and the pin itself to get this to move freely.  Also used some Beolube on the pin.

All done!

I am skipping the fuel tank for now and am going to finish up the front of the fuse first.  Brake/rudder pedals are next!